Shooting in San Bernardino leaves sheriff's deputy wounded

SAN BERNARDINO -- A San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy suffered multiple bullet wounds Tuesday morning after being "brazenly ambushed" by a gunman on East Date Street near Del Rosa Avenue, authorities say.

Two uniformed deputies were serving an eviction notice shortly after 10 a.m. when as many as three people in a grey vehicle pulled up and opened fire, said Cpl. Randy Naquin of the Sheriff's Department.

"The shots came real fast," Naquin said. "The deputies weren't ready for it. They were ambushed."

A vehicle matching that description -- it had bullet holes from when both deputies, including the injured one, returned fire -- was found at the corner of Elmwood Road and 21st Street. The man found in that vehicle was arrested Tuesday but did not have any identification, said sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

The location of others who were possibly in that vehicle was unknown, and for hours police searched a wash near where the car was found. School administrators locked down nearby Jefferson Hunt Elementary School, 1342 E. Pumalo St. in San Bernardino, while law enforcement searched the area and helicopters hovered overhead.

A San Bernardino police sergeant loaded the wounded deputy into his car and took him to Loma Linda University Medical Center, said police Lt. Paul Williams. He has since been treated and released from the hospital, sheriff's officials said.

He was reportedly in stable condition after being shot once in the head, once in the arm and once in the hand. The wounded deputy is a 24-year veteran in law enforcement, but has not been named.

The shooting rattled Raymond Hudak, who said he was cleaning up outside when he saw what happened.

"I heard at least three shots -- more -- and that truck went right by here," said Hudak, manager of the Ridgeview Apartments down the street. "Here I was cleaning up, trying to make it better, and you see that."

He shook his head in frustration, adding that he occasionally heard shooting and always went inside as soon as he heard it.

Juan Alvarado of San Bernardino said he was nearby when he heard shots.

"I was scared. It was very close to me," he said, adding that he didn't actually see a gun.

Officers from a number of agencies swarmed the scene as soon as reports were heard over the scanner. They included sheriff's deputies, San Bernardino police, Rialto police, the California Highway Patrol, San Bernardino City Unified School District police and officers from BNSF Railway police.

Jeanette Carrero, 21, said she heard five or six shots from her apartment on the second story of the Newport Village apartments where she lives.

"The deputy was shot in the shoulder," Carrero said. "It was bloody. Another police car drove up and he (the injured deputy) walked to the car by himself and got in the front and the car drove away.